Secrets on the Gold Coast
by BigSmile1983
Summary: Three girls, Rikki, Emma and Cleo find their self stranded on Mako Island. After they fall into a cave, they realize the only way out is by swimming through an underwater entrance. What they don't know yet is, that their life's are changed forever. Also there are three other girls following them since their island adventure. Watching every move they make, and flick of their tail.
1. Introducing The Characters

**Hey everyone:)) I know I al ready have upload the first chapter of this story, but I decided to change it a bit. I thought it might be better if I wrote an introduction about the characters I was planning to use for this story first:)) Some storylines might be the same as in the shows, but I also add a few storylines myself:)) So, here it is:DD**

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**Rikki Chadwick:**  
Rikki is a 16 year old, stubborn, headstrong girl who lives with her father in a small trailer in the trailer park. Her parents divorced when she was about 12 years and she decided to stay with her father because her relationship with her mother wasn't really well. She always wanted that Rikki was more girly, instead of doing boy things. Her father decided to move to the Gold Coast, because Rikki had been kicked out two different schools, and the move could be a fresh start for the both of them. Rikki goes at Sun Coast High, but doesn't make any new friends until she saves one of her new classmate's Cleo, who's getting bullied by local rich boy Zane. Cleo floats into Zane's boat towards the sea, when Rikki jumps in. After fixing the boat, both girls decided to take it for a ride and along the way they meet Emma and with the three of them they go further out to sea. After the boat gets out of fuel, they decide to go to a nearby island called Mako. On the island they try to call for help with Emma's phone, but it turns out she can't get a signal, and they decided to go further inland. After a while Cleo falls down a hole, and after also Emma and Rikki slide down they find out they are trapped inside a cave. The only way out is by swimming through an underwater entrance that leads to the sea. While they are trying to swim out, the water starts to bubble. They ignore it and swim out the cave and get rescued by the water police. The next morning Rikki finds out something has changed. During her morning walk through the park she gets hit by a sprinkler and ten seconds later she falls down into the grass, discovering that her feet are replaced by a long orange tail.

**Cleo Sertori:**  
Cleo is a 15 year old girl. She's really girly and a bit shy. She doesn't like to get in any fights, which isn't easy since Rikki and Emma are totally the opposite of each other and that causes a lot of arguments' between them. Cleo also trust people easily even she knows their reputation. Zane takes advantage of that by asking her if she wanted to help him with his boat. Cleo's steps in without noticing that Zane loses the rope and pushes the boat off. Rikki jumps suddenly from the docks inside the boat fix it and steers off, after first splashing Zane while floating past him. Cleo discovers something happened with her after the island adventure during her morning bath while her sister Kim keeps pounding onto the door while yelling she has to come out.

**Emma Gilbert:**  
Emma is a 16 year old girl who's a really great competitive swimmer. She really loves to be around water and her relationship with her parents and brother is really strong. They have a family policy that they tell each other everything and don't have secrets for one another. That's why she's also really devastated that she can't tell her parent's about the mermaid secret. Emma is the opposite of Rikki, which causes a lot of trouble between the two of them and most of the time they end up in fights. The morning after their adventure, during her morning swim, Emma jumps into the ocean and ten seconds later she starts to feel something strange. When she looks down at her feet, she sees they are replaced by an orange tail.

**Nixie, Sirena and Lyla:**  
Nixie, Sirena and Lyla are three 15 year old mermaids who live around the deserted island Mako. Nixie is the stubborn one, while Sirena always tries to do what her sister tells her to do. Nixie and Lyla are both really headstrong and both girls refuse to admit the other person is right, which causes some arguments' between them. Lyla is also wants to succeed the mermaid school, and that's why she tries her best to avoid Nixie and Sirena, what makes her a bit of a loner. After Aquata, Sirena's sister, tells Nixie and Sirena to go back to Mako for the full moon patrol, Nixie decide to do the opposite and goes to main land to watch some land people. At first Sirena doesn't like it at all, but also doesn't want to be left alone and decided to go after her friend. While they are in the harbor, they see Zane bullying Cleo, and just when they are about to help her, even if it's against their laws, they see Rikki jumping into the boat and taking it further into the canal for a ride. They decided to go back to Mako Island, for their land patrol, they bump into Lyla who's been waiting for them for hours to do what the counsel told them to do. They notice Lyla is very angry about the long wait, but also about the fact that a boat came too close to their island. Nixie tells her to relax, but then they see that Rikki, Emma and Cleo peddle towards Mako. Lyla gets angrier, but Nixie assures her that they probably will be leaving before it gets dark and swims off to the moon pool, underneath the island volcano. After a while they discover they won't and they hear Cleo falling inside the cave while her friends follow her to help her. Just to be sure they won't be seen by them they leave, waiting outside to see what the three land people will do. After a long wait they see Rikki, Emma and Cleo coming outside the cave and get rescued by the water police. They aren't sure if they were still inside the pool when it was active, so they decided to go the next morning to the beach. Once they are their they see Emma running into the water, getting a tail seconds later. They decide to tell no one about it and steal Aquata's moon ring to get legs so they can follow Rikki, Emma and Cleo on land as well as in the water. Later on also a boy, Zac Blakely, falls in the pool and this time the pod do find out. They decided to go away from Mako, but Nixie, Sirena and Lyla aren't allowed to come with them. Then they also follow Zac, trying to make him normal again so their pod will return. They find out this isn't as easy as they thought it would be.

**Zane Bennett:**  
Zane is a 16 year old, rich boy who likes to bulling people. After scuba diving with his friend Nate, who gets back to the surface after seeing sharks, he bumps into Aquata, Sirena's sister, who's visiting. After that he tries to tell everyone about her, but no one believes him. Rikki agrees to date him if he will stop talking about mermaids. He tells her he will, but behind her back he goes to Dr. Denman, finding out later that his girlfriend is one of the mermaids. What will he do?

**Lewis McCartney:**  
Lewis is a 16 year old boy, interested in science. He's been friends with Cleo since they were 5 years old and they tell each other everything. At first Cleo doesn't tell him about the secret, but he finds out during a pool party. He rescues her and tells her and her friends he will keep it a secret too and help them whenever they need him.

**Zac Blakely:**  
Zac is a 15 year old boy, who lives inside the boat shed behind his parents' house. Suddenly Zac decided to go with his best friend, Cam Rawlings, camping at Mako Island. While Cam gets to bed, Zac walks away to get a leak first. While doing that he hears noises behind him. At first he thinks its Cam, but after turning around he sees Emma walking. Without her notice he follows her, falling later inside the cave, bumping his head. When he gets back to senses he starts to walk, ignoring the dizziness in his head and stumbles inside the moon pool, losing continues again. Nixie, Sirena and Lyla pulls him back up and swim with him to the beach of Mako Island, leaving him there by himself. Later he wakes up and the only thing he can remember is that he fell inside a cave after following a girl. Cam thinks his friend is crazy and they go back home. Once they are there, Zac finds out something happened to him and wants to show it to his friend. Nothing happens and Cam thinks his friend is crazier then he thought and leaves. Zac trips and falls into the canal, feeling something weird around his feet and realize it has been replaced by a long blue tail.

**Cam Rawlings:**  
His grandfather told him his entire childhood story's about mermaids. He thought, just like the rest of the family, that he was crazy until he comes up to his friend's house and sees him swimming with a tail. At first he's really excited about this, but later on he gets jealous and tells his grandfather about Zac. His grandfather tells him to do something that he had failed in when he had tried it. Find out if there is more and expose them.

**Karl Rawlings:**  
When he was a 16 year old boy, he dated a girl named Julia. Later he found out she was a mermaid. He decided to expose her, but her friends knocked away his camera into the ocean. After that he was sure also her friends were mermaids and told everyone about them, but no one believed him. Determined to prove he was right he tried many times to capture them and fell in the pool, getting a tail afterwards. That's when he decided he could get revenge by trying to make them normal again and be the only one with a tail, having an entire island for himself. They beat him, and instead of them, he loses his tail. Back home he tries to convince everyone about the mermaids, but again they think he's crazy. Years later, when his grandson tells him about Zac, he convinces him to do what he had been failed. Trying to assure Zac to scare the mermaids away from Mako island. Even if it means he had to become a merman first.

**Barry Rawlings:**  
Barry is the son of Karl and the father of Cam. He catches rare fish to sell them later to a pet shop for a big profit. Then he sees Rikki walking with a fish for her friend. He asks her if she was interested in selling it to him. Rikki doesn't want it, but he agrees with her that she will shell the next one to him, because he assures her he's working for the marine Park. Later on she finds out he's a crook and follows him to his hideout. After being caught by one of his employee, he tries to make her scared. Instead of being scared Rikki decided it's payback time and makes a fool of him. Emma and Cleo come to his rescue when he falls into the canal and Rikki boils the water around him. Rikki decided it's enough and run off with her friends, leaving Barry alone for the police. He gets arrested and as punishment he can choose between yail or clean his record by working for the Marina. He takes the seconds choice because that way he can take revenge on Rikki. He lands up working for Dr. Linda Denman.

**Dr. Linda Denman:**  
Linda is a young Marine Biologist and gets an assignment in the Marine Park. There she meets Lewis and sees his doing some experiments in her lab. Lewis is acting really mysterious and leaves, forgetting to take the sample with him. Curious about what Lewis was doing she takes a look at the sample, adding some water and suddenly sees the sample changes. Excited about it she tries to convince Lewis to come with her, without telling him she wants some more details about the sample. Lewis does find out, removes everything from her computer and takes the sample with him. Linda leaves because her assignment is over. Later on she works with Barry, because as punishment and the change to clean his record he has to work. Denman returns to the Gold Coast after Zane's father asks her to do some tests around Mako Island. Zane tells her about his mermaid and that's why she putts cameras around Mako. A while later she gets a picture of three mermaids swimming inside a cave, and she realizes she can become really rich.

**Charlotte Watsford:**  
Charlotte is a 16 year old girl who comes with her mother living at the Gold Coast. She goes to Sun Coast High, meeting on her first day Cleo and Lewis. She immediately falls in love with him and is determined to become his girlfriend. Soon she realizes something's different about Cleo and her friends and wants to find out what it is. During her search she meets Cam and she finds at Cleo's place a picture of her grandmother, start wondering why Cleo has that picture. She finds out her grandmother was a mermaid, befriended with Julia and Louise. After she finds out also Cleo and her friends are mermaids, she decided to become one as well. Even if it means that she has to partner up with Cam.

**Louise Chatham:**  
When she was 15 year old, she and her friends decided to swim at the beach of Mako island. After exploring the island, she and her friends fell down the cave. Trying to find a way back up they saw the moon pool and decided to take a swim in it. After their adventure they realized something has changed. They become mermaids after toughing water. They agreed to keep it a secret. Years later she meets Cleo in the Marine Park, knowing something is different about Cleo. She knows everything about Cleo's secret.

**David:**  
David is a 15 year old boy, working for his parent's café, called 'Ocean Café'. After his meeting with Sirena he starts to have feelings for her, but is too scared to tell her.

**Rita Santos:**  
Rita is the school principal of Sun Coast High, the same school as Rikki, Cleo, Emma goes to. What no one knows is that she has a secret too. In her bedroom is a secret door behind the book case, which leads into a cave underneath her house. Inside that cave she has a grotto that leads to a pool, connected with the ocean. Nixie, Sirena and Lyla follow her up to her house, and find out her secret. At first Rita doesn't want anything to do with them, because it could wreck her cover. They keep coming at her house and tell her about Rikki, Emma and Cleo and that they need her help. After also Zac falls in the pool, and the pod left them, she allows them to stay at her place, as long they tell everyone they are her nieces.

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**So, what do you think? Please review if you like to read the next chapter:DD**


	2. Stranded

**Hey everyone. I decided to make a new cross-over story between H2o and Mako mermaids. I place the story first in the h2o section, since I still don't know how to place it in both story section:)) Hope that's not a problem:DD**

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Episode 1: Stranded

It was a sunny afternoon, and a young teenage girl, about 16 years old, dove into a swimming pool. The moment she felt the water around her she started to swim off really fast. Her body sliced through the water to the other end of the pool while her best friend stood on the poolside watching at her and holding a time watch in one of her hands. Now and then she took a look on it and after a few minutes her friend reached her again and pulled her head above the water. The girl hit the stop button of the watch, bend through her knees towards her friend holding the time watch up so she could see her new record.

"Awesome. That's 1.2 of my personal best" The girl said with an exited tone in her voice while holding her hands on the poolside.

"Emma, you are really modehering there" her friend said who was just as excited about it as her friend.

"I'll do better than that tomorrow" Emma replied, feeling convinced about it. "Give me two weeks and I'm ready for the originals."

She placed her diving mask back and dove back underwater, ready to swim a few more laps while her friend walked off.

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Somewhere in the ocean, really close to a deserted island, two shapes sliced through the water, chasing each other for a while. Suddenly one of them swam through a pod of colorful fishes, causing them to swim off fast into different directions and a few seconds later two heads popped up at the surface, both laughing really hard.

"See, I told you that it would look funny" the dark haired girl said to her friend who nodded in agreement. "Maybe we can do the same with some sharks."

She was just about to dive back underwater, when suddenly another head surfaced the water, looking at them with a strict look on her face.

"Aquata!" the blond girl said startled when she recognized her sister and looked away, avoiding her sister's eyes. She was scared her sister just had seen what she and Nixie did to those fishes. She knew they were busted and that Aquata would punish them by grounding them.

But instead of grounding them she told them to go to Mako Island, back to their full moon patrol.

"But full moon is hours away" Nixie said stubborn, because she wanted to swim some more instead going back to the moon pool.

"Just do it" Aquata said firm, dove back underwater, hoping they didn't see her smiling. Somehow she couldn't help it to smile now and then about Nixie's stubbornness. It kind of reminded her about when she was her age and got herself always in a lot trouble. Now she was older she tried to be more serious. Fast she swam back to Mako Island, thinking the girls did the same.

Sirena was about to do what her sister told them to do, but Nixie grabbed her gently by her arm and pulled her back up.

"What?" Sirena asked, looking confused at her friend.

"Let's go to the docks" Nixie replied, smiling mischievous. "See what land people do."

"Nixie, no!" Sirena said with panicked look on her face. "If Aquata catches us, she will ground us for sure."

"Don't be such a squid" Nixie said, rolling her eyes in annoy mend. "You will like it. Just see."

Before Sirena could say anything, Nixie dove back underwater and swam fast to mainland. Sirena sighed, dove underwater and followed her friend.

* * *

Careful and quit as the could both girls swam towards the docks, popping their heads above water to see if anyone could see them.

Not far from where they were hiding, they saw a dark haired girl walking. Suddenly they heard a male voice calling at her. Startled they looked around to see where it came from.

Careful they peeked around one of the boats, that where harbored at the docks, and saw a dark haired boy kneeling next to his zodiac. The girl he just had calling to slow down her passe, like she wasn't sure if she should go to him. Somehow it looked like she was scared of him.

"Yes, that Cleo" the boy said after the girl looked a few times around her. He knew she didn't do that to see if there were more Cleo's, but he just enjoyed annoying her.

"I'm in some trouble here" he said quickly, changing the subject so Cleo wouldn't walk away. "Can you help?"

"No" Cleo replied hesitated and took a few steps back. "I don't think so."

"Come on " the boy said and stood back up at his feet. "Please" he tried again and this time he smiled nicely. The girl looked shy at the ground before looking back at him. "My zodiac won't go. All I need you to do is passing the tools."

Cleo still hesitated at first, but after a few seconds she walked upon Zane. "I'm not good with boats" she said, while walking past him to step into the boat.

"You'll be fine" Zane replied, still smiling. But it looked more like he was about doing something.

Careful Cleo walked towards the toolbox on the other side of the zodiac, bent through her knees and picked a few tools out of it.

"It took for me a while to realize someone stole my sparkplug" Zane said, while bending through his knees again. This time not to make his boat. Instead he loosen the rope that held the zodiac against the docks.

"So, does it work without one?" Cleo asked who still didn't realize what Zane just did. Slowly Zane pulled the boat away from the docks with his foot what caused Cleo to look up.

"No" Zane replied while walking down the dock looking at Cleo who slowly drifted away further. "No sparkplug, no spark" he continued, and his friend Nate walked upon him and stood still next to him. Either he must have hidden himself all the time, or he just passed by, Cleo didn't know. She didn't really care. All she wanted was getting back on land. "I was getting sick of that thing anyone."

"Why Me?" Cleo yelled looking panicked to the water. She didn't like water at all. Especially when she was in a boat all alone. "I didn't steal your sparkplug!"

"Because you are here, Cleo!" Zane answers with a taunting tone in his voice. "My dad will buy me another boat anyway. " Just when he had said that an idea crossed his mind. "If you can get it going, you can keep it."

"This isn't funny!" Cleo yelled and she started to get annoyed by Zane's behavior.

"Are you kidding? Works for me, right Nate?" he asked facing his friend and they slapped each other's hand while laughing hard. Nate waved taunting at her while she drifted away further and they started to walk along the docks, looking at Cleo who went into a real panic now.

"Zane!" she yelled at him with a begging tone in her voice. Somehow she still hoped Zane would get bored by his joke and helped her getting back on land, but she realized quick that wouldn't be the case.

"Looks like you have to swim for it, Cleo! Zane said, and both friends kept laughing. Zane really enjoyed what he just did, wanted to see what Cleo would do, so he kept walking along the dock.

Slowly the boat drifted past Sirena and Nixie who quickly hid a bit further behind one of the boats so Cleo wouldn't see them.

"Maybe we should help her" Sirena whispers into her friend's ear.

"You know we aren't allowed" Nixie whispers back. "If the pod sees us..."

"And now you listen what the pod says?" Sirena asked, interrupting her friend who always did the opposite of what the pod said them to do. "That girl is really scared and..."

"Fine" Nixie said, rolling her eyes. "I'll help her." Nixie was about to go underwater, when she suddenly saw a girl running along the jetty towards the boat that floated by. They girl took a leap and landed in front of Cleo into the boat. Cleo screamed and jumped up from the seat, looking at the strange girl.

"Is this supposed to be some sort of rescue?" She asked looking really confused. "We are floating out to sea. Both of us."

The girl didn't reply, just kept looking at Cleo when she suddenly took something out of her pocket and held it up for Cleo to see.

"You took that" the Cleo said accusing but the girl kept smiling mischievous until she slowly walked around Cleo so she could reach the motor.

"Zane Bennett is a pig" the girl said and sat down next to the motor. "Anything I can do to get under his skin can't be a bad thing, can it?" she asked, placing the sparkplug back in his place.

"Cool, thanks Rikki" Cleo replied what caused the girl to look up, looking confused at her.

"You know my name?"

"Yeah, well..." Cleo started. "I've seen you around school since you arrived."

The girl bent over to pick up something from the floor, placing it back onto the motor while Cleo kept talking to her, explaining why she knew Rikki's name. Rikki didn't hear anything of it and looked at the docks where Zane still walked with his friend. It look like he hadn't noticed anything about what Rikki just had done, until she started to engine with the key that he stupidly had left in the boat. Zane heard the sound of his boat engine, walked closer to the side of the dock to see where the noise was coming from and he saw the girls coming towards him.

Cleo whispers something in her new found friend's ear, and the girl steered the boat closer to the docks where Zane stood. Suddenly she turned the steering wheel into another direction, which caused the boat to turn away from him. A large splash of water came from under the turning boat and landed straight onto Zane, who tried to duck away, without any success. He looked soaked and pissed at both girls who steered the boat towards the canal while his friend laughed about what just had happened. Quickly he stopped laughing when his friend looked at him.

Also Nixie and Sirena just had seen what the girls did to him, and they smiled at each other before diving back underwater, swimming back to their home.

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POV Rikki

I really enjoyed the boat ride, even though my co-passenger, who already had introduced herself to me as Cleo, was still a bit nervous and didn't seem to enjoy it as much as I did, so I tried everything to make her feel a bit comfortable but she just kept smiling nervous.  
After a while of steering the boat through the canal, waving at people who passed by in their own boats I found it enough and decided to go more out to the sea. While I did that Cleo saw someone walking on the bridge who she recognized and started to yell something to the girl.

"Hey, Emma! Want a ride?"

"Are you licensed?" the girl shouted back, and I assumed the question was more directed to me then to Cleo.

"Are you my mother?" I shouted back but the girl didn't say anything back. I steered the boat towards the mainland so she could step inside the boat. When we reached her I could tell she wasn't really sure about it whether to come with us or not.

"Maybe it's just better if I go home" Emma said walking back away from the boat. "Maybe you can also come, Cleo."

"But I like it" Cleo replied. "Come on, Emma. You will like it too."

"Okay" Emma said after a few seconds of hesitating. She thought it might be better if she go with them. She knew Rikki's reputation because she had heard all about it at school. The girl was kicked out two different schools before she landed on their school. It might be better if she went with them, to avoid that Cleo would get into trouble because of something Rikki did. After all, the boat they were in, looked like it belonged to Zane. But then again, Zane wouldn't be the only one with a boat like this.

"Let's go out to the sea" Emma heard Rikki saying and she realized they had left the canal and were on their way towards the sea.

"Isn't that dangerous with a boat of this size?" Emma asked looking worried.

"Chill out!" I replied and took some more speed, heading towards the sea, which turned out to be not the best idea. Suddenly the motor quit on us, and even if I tried to get it going again, the thing refused to work again.

"Are we chilled out yet?" Emma asked sarcastic.

"So... we are floating. It's not like we're sinking" I snapped back at her.

"Not yet" Emma said annoyed, looking angry away, which caused me to sigh while Cleo sat next to me looking very scared at the water.

Not far from them, a young girl looked at them, figuring out what to do when suddenly two other girls came, right behind her, above water. The two girls were Nixie and Sirena, and the other girl was Lyla. Lyla also belonged in their pod, but she always stayed away from Sirena and Nixie. This time the pod counsel told her that it was her turn for the full moon patrol together with Sirena and Nixie. She tried to complain but the council told her to stop arguing and go out to see everything was save while Aquata went out to search for the other two girls.

"You two are late!" she said accusing, while keeping a close eye on the three girls in the boat.

"Would you relax" Nixie said grinning. "We are here now, aren't we?" Nixie kept smiling even Lyla didn't answer her question, so she rolled her eyes and tried to give Sirena a playful nudge underwater with her tail. Instead her tail toughed Lyla's, and she turned around immediately, giving Nixie an angry look.

"While you two were away, those three land people came too close to Mako Island" Lyla said, biting her lower lip in anger and signaled with her head into the direction Rikki,Emma and Cleo were.

"So?" Nixie asked and shrugged her shoulders. "They will go away sooner or later."

"Apparently they won't" Lyla snapped angry and Sirena looked away scared. She knew this might get ugly and that there might be a change they start to fight. "That thing they are in, stopped working and now they are stuck here. What if they decided to go to Mako?"

"Relax" Nixie said again, just kept smiling, even she knew it annoyed Lyla. "Land people don't go to Mako. They are too scared for it. Because of the sharks and everything."

Nixie just had said that when Sirena suddenly noticed one of the girls gave the other a peddle and started to peddle of towards Mako. "I don't think they are scared."

Lyla turned around, looking at the boat again and her face turned red in anger. "This is all your fault!" she yelled, dove underwater and swam off towards the underwater caves beneath Mako Island. Nixie rolled her eyes and dove also underwater.

* * *

Emma and I started to peddle towards the island, while I noticed Cleo wasn't happy about it at all. She just kept asking us how we would get home.

"Well..." I said and start thinking. "I think Zane will tell the water police his boat is stolen. They will search for us, and sooner or later they will find the boat on the beach."

"That doesn't make me feel better at all" Cleo said, more worried than before. "Will they arrest us from stealing Zane's boat?"

"Probably" I said with a grin, but got interrupted by Emma.

"You stole this boat from Zane?" she asked angry and stopped peddling. "I knew you were trouble."

"What does that supposed to mean!" I asked angry and also stopped peddling. How dare she to judge me?

"I know you've been kicked out of two different schools before you went to ours" Emma replied, placed the peddle next to her and crossed her arms in front of her. "You'll better start telling us why."

"I'm not going to tell you anything" I said and I felt an anger boil up. "Here" I said and handled my peddle over to Cleo who took it hesitated. "You peddle now." I grabbed Emma's peddle and we both started to peddle further towards the island while Emma kept looking angry at me.

After a few minutes we finally reached the island, and we dragged the boat further upon the beach so it wouldn't drift away.

"How do we ever get back home?" Cleo asked worried and tired from all the peddling.

"Good question, Cleo" Emma replied sarcastic. "Ask your friend."

"Don't put this on me" I said in defend. I was still angry about what she had said about the kicking off school thing, and even hadn't apologized for it.

"So it was someone else his fault?" Emma asked and I sensed a patronizing tone in her voice. "Someone else took these thing miles off shore." I decided to ignore her, even it was really hard, because the tone in her voice was really bugging me and made me want to punch her. "You two are lucky I've got this" Emma continued, bent over into the boat and grabbed her cellphone out her swim bag.

"Emma is always really prepared" Cleo said happy and proud to me.

"I'm so happy for her" I snapped sarcastic at her, which maybe wasn't really fair of me. After all it was Emma who annoyed me. Cleo looked away and Emma rolled her eyes before she focused on her phone again.

"I'm not getting any signal. We should try to get to higher ground." Emma looked questioned from Cleo to me, before she walked away towards the jungle while holding her cellphone up to check the signal. Cleo quickly followed her friend and for a few seconds I refused to go after them. I didn't feel much about to be in the jungle with Miss Control freak. But then again, I didn't like to be alone at the beach either, so I sighed and followed them into the forest.

* * *

After a few minutes of walking through the bug investate jungle, Emma's cellphone still didn't get any signal.

"Do you have any idea where you are going?" I asked at Emma while stepping over a few rocks.

"Just up" Emma replied. "I'm still don't get any signal."

"Maybe we won't get any signal" Cleo said complaining and tripped almost a few times. "What then? What if we can't call anyone? What if nobody finds us?"

"Then we have to draw straws, and decided which one of us the others will eat" I replied, stepping over a few branches and bumped into Cleo who stood still immediately I've said it.

"That's not funny!" Emma snapped angry at me.

"I'm relieving the tension" I said defending myself. _This girl really didn't had any sense of humor _I thought and almost wanted that I had stayed at the beach.

"You've making it worse" Cleo said wining. Emma told us to walk again, so we did.

After a while we heard the noise of falling water and we decided to start walking towards it and noticed a little pool of water. The water came from a small waterfall between some rocks.

Carefully we walked to the edge of one of the rocks and noticed we had to jump to reach a second rock that was a few meters away. Emma jumped first, and as soon she landed onto the second rock, she turned around and waited for us to jump too. Cleo looked questioned at me to see what I was planned to do. I just looked back at her without saying anything. Without any hesitation I jumped to the other rock and turned around, soon I found my balance again; I waited for Cleo to jump as well.

"I can't do this" Cleo said and took a few steps back. "There must be another way."

Cleo kept walking back, but suddenly she lost her balance and felt down screaming.

"Cleo!" We yelled at the same time and I looked around to see if I could reach her and saw a small path that leaded back to the rock Cleo was on. We ran carefully back and noticed Cleo had fallen down a whole between one of the rocks.

Inside the same cave, not far away from them, was a pool filled with water, right under a cone of a volcano. Inside that pool sat Nixie, Sirena and Lyla, still arguing about what to do about the fact three land people were wandering around on the island. Suddenly their argument got interrupted by Cleo's screaming, and all three girls froze by the sound of it.

"What happened?" Sirena yelped scared and gave her friends a worried look.

"One of them fell down the land entrance" Lyla snapped and her face turned red in anger again. They heard, in the distance, one girl yelling her friend's name.

_"I'm okay!"_ the girl yelled in reply.

_"Can you climb up?" _

_"No!"_

_"Are you sure? Come on, just try!"_

_"I can't!"_ the girl replied and by the sound of it she tried to get up. _"There is no way! It's too steep!"_

A few seconds later a second scream echoed through the cave, and the three mermaids knew it might be better if they left before they would see them.

"But it's almost full moon" Sirena said, looking really worried at Nixie.

"I know" Nixie said, this time she got worried too. "Maybe they will swim out before the full moon is up."

A _'Wow"_ echoed through the cave, and they knew that it belonged to the third girl. Quickly they turned around, dove underwater and swam out the cave into the sea.

* * *

After we realized everything was fine with Cleo, we decided it might be a good idea if we searched for a way out. About a few minutes of walking through the dark cave, we reached a small step that went up, leading to another path. Carefully we walked behind each other upon to the step, and soon we came into another small cave. Inside this cave was a small pool filled with water. For a few seconds we were all three amazed by what we just had found and soon we realized we were right under the volcano. Cleo asked at Emma if it could erupt, but Emma assured her that the volcano had been dormant for twenty thousand years and that she thought they would be save.

Slowly Emma walked further around the pool and kneeled down beside the pool, looking into the water. "Look. Tide rings" Emma said and started to take out her shoes. "The level of the pool rises and falls."

"So..." I asked confused and Cleo shrugged her shoulders.

"So, it's connected to the ocean" Emma explained. "There might be a way out."

Soon Emma had taken off her shoes, she stood straight up again, stepped onto the rock that was just about underneath the water level, looked at us and dove into the water, swimming off. The moment we couldn't see her anymore we also bent through our knees, waiting for Emma to come back.

"I'm not going to like this" Cleo said to me and I could see she started to panic again. I sat down into the sand next to the pool, and noticed Cleo did the same. We just sat there for a few seconds when Cleo started to worry again, and yelled Emma's name a few times. I told her she should give Emma some time and a second later someone swam inside the cave again and Emma's head appeared above water.

"I was right" Emma said soon she had catches up some breath and swam towards us. "It's a twenty seconds swim to the reef outside. Straight through. Plenty of room. We can all fit."

"Through their?" Cleo asked and looked worried at the water while I started to untie my shoes. "No way."

"Come on, Cleo" I said, tugging my sock into the shoe I already had taken off. "There is no other way out. You can do it."

"I can't do it. And... besides... I can't swim."

"Don't worry, Cleo. I will help you" Emma said who grabbed her shoes and started to tie the laces of her shoe together, so she could hang them around her shoulders. I did the same with mine and stepped also into the cold water. Soon as I came above water I noticed Cleo still hadn't moved at all, so I swam back at her and took her shoes out. Then I tied the laces together like I did before with mine, while Cleo still sat at the poolside and slowly put her feet into the water.

"Everything will be fine" Emma said who swam behind me in the pool.

"How can you be sure?" Cleo asked in reply. She still didn't feel much for the swim and she wasn't really certain if she would ever be. She never liked the water, and maybe that could be the reason she didn't learn it. I however, started to get a bit annoyed by all this. The water was cold and I really wanted to go home.

"Listen to her, Cleo" I said firm. "What alternative do we have? Stay stuck down here forever?" I wasn't really sure if she liked that idea, but she started to look around while thinking over it and then shrugged her shoulders. I held my hand out towards her, and after a few seconds of hesitation she took it and gently I pulled her into the water. Quick I dove under to get her head above water again and about that time the water began to boil, colorful bubbles flew out of it up into the cone of the volcano. The strange thing was that the water still felt cold, even when it boiled. I haven't seen anything like this before and for a few seconds I thought Emma could be maybe wrong. Maybe the volcano wasn't dormant and was it about to erupt. _But wouldn't the water be hot then? And what about these colored bubbles?_

"Okay, now concentrate" I heard Emma saying who swam next to me. "Take a deep breath." Emma took her own advice, and after a deep breathe in, she dove underwater and swam off. We waited a few more seconds so Emma had the time to swim through the opening. Cleo looked around one more time, dove under with me, and together we swam through the opening back up to the surface.

"That was more then twenty seconds" Cleo complained soon she had catches up her breath.

"Relax. We made it didn't we?" I replied a bit annoyed by the cold water.

"I'm proud of you, Cleo. I knew you could do it" Emma said and wrapped her arm around Cleo's shoulders.

Suddenly we heard a noise and a big light beamed in our faces while we heard a voice saying they were the water police. Quickly, at their order, Emma and I swam towards them to get out. Cleo looked one more time at the island before she also followed us. I was really happy to be out the water but, also I really hoped my dad wouldn't be too mad when I got home. The police handed us some towels and a blanket that we had to wrap around us to get warm. Then they turned around and made their way back to the mainland.

* * *

**So, what do you think? Please review if you like to read the next chapter:D**


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